1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of methods for constructing concrete buildings. More specifically the present invention relates to a method of constructing a concrete module having several interconnected walls and defining a portion of a building. The method includes the essential steps of forming two pitch walls, each pitch wall having a wall upper end angled to match the pitch of the building roof to define an upper peak having a beam receiving notch, having a shorter lateral end and a longer lateral end, and a wall lower end, and having a notch at the intersection of the lower lateral end and the angled wall upper end; forming a linking wall having two linking wall lateral ends substantially matching the height of the pitch wall shorter lateral ends; providing a floor form platform having a horizontal platform surface and an upright tubular floor form rail which defines a side of the floor form, placing the two pitch walls and the linking wall on a floor form platform such that the pitch wall longer lateral ends are each abutting and substantially perpendicular to the floor form wall and the pitch wall shorter lateral ends are adjacent to one of the linking wall lateral ends such that the pitch walls both extend in the same direction from and are substantially perpendicular to the linking wall, and the pitch walls, linking wall and floor form wall together enclose a region of the horizontal platform surface to define a floor form; pouring uncured concrete into the floor form; permitting the concrete within the floor form to cure and define a module floor jointed to the pitch walls and the linking wall; constructing a roof form with roof form support structures having planar upper surfaces angled to match the desired roof pitch and to define a contiguous roof form lower wall below a distance below and adjacent to the pitch wall and linking wall upper ends and meeting the pitch walls and linking walls to define a roof form; optionally placing insulating foam blocks on top of the support structures for incorporation into the formed roof; forming a pre/post-stressed concrete beam, placing the beam parallel to the linking wall and into the beam notches; pouring uncured concrete into the roof form; permitting the concrete in the roof form to cure; removing the roof form support structures; lifting the completed module off the platform.
The modules are preferably formed side by side on a special platform having a steel sheet surface and a common platform floor form of a rail. The two modules that will together form a given building are formed closely opposing each other on either side of this rail, so that any slight plumb bob tilt of the module side walls directly corresponds from one module to the other and common side walls are mutually aligned.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There have long been methods of forming buildings from pre-fabricated concrete walls in which the walls are formed at a forming site and transported to a construction site, where they are positioned, tilted up and laterally interconnected at their ends. A problem with these prior methods is that they fall short of teaching how to fabricate a pair of matching, integral concrete building modules from pre-formed concrete walls which can be lifted by a crane.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a method of forming a concrete building module in which pre-fabricated building walls become integrally interconnected.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a method which creates a module which is sufficiently integral and sturdy to be lifted by embedded lifters with a crane.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such a method which can be practices by workmen of substantially ordinary skill in the art of prefabricating building walls.
It is finally an object of the present invention to provide such a method in which only ordinary, inexpensive and widely available hardware is incorporated into the module to achieve its functional purposes and which generally requires only ordinary and common building tools to fabricate.